The Tatarstan Investment Development Agency, headed by Linar Yakupov, provides investors with a one-stop shop for all their government needs, and offers assitance that guides investors from start to finish.

What else does your
agency do?

We have two primary functions - to attract foreign investment and to
improve the business climate; they are related, of course. In addition to
promoting Tatarstan as an attractive destination for foreign capital and
helping investors who come here, we also lobby business-friendly legislation in
government. We have all the tools to do this, as we report directly to the
president and prime minister.

We’re currently working on the creation of a regional
investment fund in Tatarstan that would hedge part of the risk faced by
investors. This is very important because, unfortunately, despite all our
rhetoric, Russia is not the most attractive destination for investment. Tax
breaks are great, but poor governance and the perceived high level of political
risk still scare off a lot of capital. And many changes have to be implemented
at the federal level, as the investment climate in Tatarstan depends a lot on
the country as a whole. We hope the legal framework for the fund will be in
place by January 2012.

What would you like
to see the federal government do to improve the business climate in Russia?

Both Tatarstan and Russia are in very lucrative geographic
positions between Europe and Asia. We need to build roads across the breadth of
the country to take advantage of it. To demonstrate the seriousness of our
intentions to investors, we need to show we are able to provide such basic
infrastructure.
I lived in Malaysia in the ’90s . They were able to build a network
of high-quality roads in a very short period of time and open up previously
isolated parts of their country to an influx of industrial parks. China did the
same thing, and has attained very high levels of economic growth as a result.
The Russian government needs to announce such a plan; we’ve had “national
projects” in health care, agriculture, housing and education. They should
announce one in road construction. We’ve done a lot to improve road quality in
Tatarstan already.

What are your best success stories so far?

The Alabuga SEZ has attracted scores of Russian and foreign
investors to the point that its board is considering increasingly large
projects every year. I’m also thinking of [truck maker] Kamaz’s joint ventures
with Daimler and other companies, [Russian passenger car manufacturer]
Sollers’s launching of a Fiat assembly line (with major plans for Ford), and
Isuzu.

Fujitsu-Siemens makes hardware and software here, and has
seen explosive growth. Their clients include some of the world’s largest
corporations, like Volvo and Pepsi. They have created serious competition for
similar ventures in India.

We are actively working on developing major aviation and helicopter
factories in Tatarstan, which have been here for decades and offer enormous
potential for generating value-added products and developing the local
scientific base.

That is why we call on investors not to see us only as a source of
chemicals and raw materials, but also as a high-tech and manufacturing hub with
a highly skilled workforce.